Owing Capitol one more album on her contract, Ronstadt brought in producer Peter Asher, who had worked on her previous album Don't Cry Now, and multi-instrumentalist and arranger Andrew Gold. The collaborative efforts of Asher and Gold have been credited over the years as contributing significantly to the album's artistic success. Several tracks have string arrangements by Gregory Rose.

Although her major successes were in the pop/rock field, Ronstadt also had great success in the country music field. Heart Like A Wheel spent four weeks at number 1 on Billboards Country Albums chart in early 1975. The follow-up single release, a rockified version of the Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved," spent two weeks at number 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1975 and reached number 1 on the Cash Box Pop singles chart. It also became Ronstadt's first number 1 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. The B-side of "When Will I Be Loved," a melancholy version of a Buddy Holly & the Crickets song, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", subsequently climbed the Pop, Adult Contemporary and Country charts.[2]

Heart Like a Wheel was well regarded from its initial release. Stephen Holden in his review for Rolling Stone found her voice on the album "totally, irresistibly sexy."[6] And later marking it as a classic, Allmusic wrote that "it stands as a landmark of '70s mainstream pop/rock."[3]